Opinions on your T-mobile services....

[kaerflog]

I've been a Sprint customer for all my life and I switched in March to T-mobile solely because of the HD2.
The HD2 was my dream phone and I was going to get it no matter what network it was on.
Let me say that I never had problems with Sprint.
I have driven to Miami and NC a few times and tethering to my laptop the entire way with few problems.

So my experience with T-mobile here in Orlando have been so-so.
The funny thing is Orlando is one of the few cities that have HSPA+.
When you do get the signal, its great but its far and few in betweens.
Inside my house, I still get edge/3G most of the time so I hardly benefit from HSPA+.
The downfall with T-mobile was this past weekend trip to Atlanta.
As soon as I got out of Orlando, I was only getting GPRS which is a step below edge.
I didn't get edge/3G again until I almost hit Atlanta.
The worst part was when I was at the baseball game at Turner Field.
Sitting in the open air stadium, I could not connect to the net to save my life.
But if I walk up to conccession to get a beer, I get 3G again.
Its not a fluke cause it happenned to all 3 games I went to.

T-mobile talked about having HSPA+ reaching 180 million people my years end but to me, I think they needed to improve their coverage rather than the speed.
Constant speed is much much better than fast speed cutting in and out.
I don't know, maybe its my phone.
I like Tmobile pricing and some of their policy(like free unlocking) but their coverage is killing me.
Maybe you guys have better experince with Tmobile.
Or if you live in a major city and never travel, T-mobile would be good.
I will be switching provider and paying my ETF when the opportunity arises.
Probably ATT as they are the only other GSM network(I travel outside the US a couple of months out of the year)

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Been using Tmobile for like 6+ years. Been completely happy especially with the customer service.

ATT and Sprint CS however.. may they burn in hell.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Best customer service of all the carriers, poor phone selection...

Customer for 10 years now...

 

[kaerflog]

Sorry, I posted my thread before finishing what I had to say.

 

[Malak]

I loved being with T-Mobile. I am on Verizon only because I'm on my parent's plan and they are paying for it, can't beat free. Sprint was the worst network I've been on. I've never tried ATT but I never will either. Sprints coverage was so bad that I got out of contract without an ETF because they knew their coverage sucked, I didn't argue it.

 

[gsaldivar]

5 years ago I thought the T-Mobile was pretty bad in some parts of Southern California. Most of the time, there were no problems at all. However during rush hour, I used to spend my entire commute continuously redialing to get calls to go through on their network. Several calls to their support people said that I was in known high traffic area (Irvine, CA), and just to try calling later (...really?). Swapping phones and SIM cards had no effect. While other people were easily able to carry conversations non-stop, I had to redial sometimes 5-10 times to get a single call to go through. Totally unacceptable.

I stayed with them for a few months after that mainly because I could work around being unreachable for a half hour of my evening, but it got old pretty fast and I eventually dumped them for Sprint. Same area, with Sprint - no problems whatsoever, every call went through even during rush hour. They may have improved since then, but I didn't bother sticking around to find out.

 

[funks]

Considering the Android is pretty much available on all carriers now (custom ROM's are also become a possibility for most of the androids - except for the Motorola DroidX and Droid2 due to the locked boot loader) - I'd say pick the carrier with the best network (in this case, Verizon) but avoid Motorola Phones. Used to have T-Mobile but gave up on them after my contract was up due to the reception in SoCal (I guess their agreement with AT&T ran out)

An android phone will only be as good as the network.

Yep, I know the phone you have runs WinMo 6.5 but it's EOL'd (at this point in time, I say good luck to Microsoft and their upcoming WinMo7 phones, the android platform gained traction).

Might want to take a look at the HTC EVO4G, or the HTC Incredible or the new Samsung Galaxy phones. Just avoid Motorola phones if you would like to run custom roms, and avoid vendor bloat and lock ins. As for traveling outside the country and GSM being needed, why don't you just keep your current HD2 and put Android Froyo on it? And keep your Verizon or Sprint phone at home..

 

[Freshgeardude]

Considering the Android is pretty much available on all carriers now (custom ROM's are also become a possibility for most of the androids - except for the Motorola DroidX and Droid2 due to the locked boot loader) - I'd say pick the carrier with the best network (in this case, Verizon) but avoid Motorola Phones. Used to have T-Mobile but gave up on them after my contract was up due to the reception in SoCal (I guess their agreement with AT&T ran out)

An android phone will only be as good as the network.

Yep, I know the phone you have runs WinMo 6.5 but it's EOL'd (at this point in time, I say good luck to Microsoft and their upcoming WinMo7 phones, the android platform gained traction).

Might want to take a look at the HTC EVO4G, or the HTC Incredible or the new Samsung Galaxy phones. Just avoid Motorola phones if you would like to run custom roms, and avoid vendor bloat and lock ins. As for traveling outside the country and GSM being needed, why don't you just keep your current HD2 and put Android Froyo on it? And keep your Verizon or Sprint phone at home..

Bro,

Motorola is perfectly fine. Custom ROMS on the Droid X are actually coming out TONIGHT, at least thats what they said on twitter 4 hours ago.

the locked boot loader is nothing, just an annoyance.

the phone was rooted 1 week after it launched.

The droid x is far superior to the evo. Better battery life, camera, screen (15:9 on evo, 16:9 on x)


the only thing evo has better is senseui

 

[kaerflog]

Maybe I should have been more specific.
Calls/messaging is not the issue.
I have no problem with those but of course I hardly make calls anymore.
My issue is with data service.
In this day and age, smartphones and data services go hand in hand.
Data service here in Orlando is a little better than passable but my traveling experience with T-mobile is a very unpleasant one.
When you live in a moderate/big city, data will usually not be in issue because 1) coverage is good 2) wifis are readily available.
I guess I measure the coverage when I travel and needing data service when I can't access wifi.

 

[PuppettMaster001]

Been using T-Mobile's 3g network for about 2 years now and haven't been impressed. I have used the G1, Nexus One, myTouch, and now the Vibrant and it seems no matter what city I go to, 3g coverage seems spotty. As you said, I can get a strong 3g signal outside of my apartment but once you go inside it is a different story. The same goes for when I visit Port St Lucie and West Palm Beach, FL. In Atlanta last week was the same story, strong 3g signal on one side of the street, switched to EDGE on the other side of the street.

 

[dguy6789]

T-Mobile is good if you're in an area where you're getting 3G. It's horrible when you don't.(That about sums it and all carriers up doesn't it?) How often either happens depends on where you live and work so how good T-Mobile is could be a very different answer for different people.

 

[rudeguy]

I've been on Tmo for over a year and I have zero complaints. I can't remember any time when I didn't get service. Their customer care is the best out of any cell phone company I have ever dealt with. They are also focusing on getting cutting edge phones which is very nice.

 

[pm]

I was with T-Mobile for about 7 years until last summer. I rejoined T-Mobile recently.

For customer service, they are the best and nicest and most consumer focused of any of the 3 carriers that I've used (Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile).

For coverage 3G/EDGE/GPRS, it's very spotty here in northern Colorado, and generally I'd have to say that AT&T has better service from a "bars in places" perspective. At my desk right now, I get "no service" on T-Mobile but AT&T has 2 bars (EDGE) - this is on the same phone. Outside I get 4 bars T-Mobile (EDGE), but 5 bars AT&T (3G). Driving around AT&T tends to have overall slightly higher signal levels. Once I leave town in any direction except Denver, my signal drops to EDGE within 3 miles of the city limits and as I head in the mountains the signal disappears entirely, although AT&T lasts only slightly farther before it disappears too. As far as the OP, your post is more or less my experience - the coverage is a bit spotty.

I will say that there was one time that I was skiing at Eldora and I was chatting on my iPhone on the lift and the woman next to me said "you have service? My phone has said 'no service' all day here" and I replied "oh, I'm on T-Mobile - you're probably on AT&T." so there's been the opposite case too. But overall, AT&T has a bit better overall signal strength in northern Colorado outside of the cities (where they are both excellent).

From a pricing perspective, I'd say that T-Mobile is priced in stores close to AT&T but their customer service reps seem to have a lot more freedom to adjust my plan than on AT&T.

 

[onza]

I've been with tmobile since they were voicestream way back in 1998? Maybe longer I can't recall, their service is great, customer service is also good, but their phone selection is a turd. I do want to try their new samsung vibrant, so we shall see.

 

[Oyeve]

Been with them since they were omnipoint and voicestrem. No major issues for me as I live in NYC and rarely venture out. But, on the occasion I do data was spotty at best. I also have a Droid and the verizon network in NYC is horrible at best. Tmo trumps verizon, imo, in NYC. plus tmos family/data plan is just so much cheaper than att and verizon. I want to get rid of my behold 2 because 2.2 or even 2.0 wont go on it, but samsung fubared that, not tmo, but tmo could have still let me get a vibrant for cheap.

 

[Deeko]

With the exception of 4 months this past year when I had the Droid, I've been with T-Mobile since 2002.

Pros:
-Great customer service
-Good phone selection (I really, really don't understand people that argue this)
-Very fast 3G
-Great value for your money

Cons:
-3G service is very spotty, outside of major metro areas I'm almost always on Edge, sometimes even in them
-Sub par building penetration

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I've been with tmobile since they were voicestream way back in 1998? Maybe longer I can't recall, their service is great, customer service is also good, but their phone selection is a turd. I do want to try their new samsung vibrant, so we shall see.

Go for it. I love mine.

I've been with T-mobile since 2001. Phone service has never been an issue, but their data is spotty. But for 1500 minutes, 4 lines with unlimted text, and 2 with unlimted text and data, no one comes close to the $120 a month I pay for it.

 

[Deeko]

I do want to try their new samsung vibrant, so we shall see.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Vibran...230202&sr=8-14

Its free on Amazon right now...

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

With the exception of 4 months this past year when I had the Droid, I've been with T-Mobile since 2002.

Pros:
-Great customer service
-Good phone selection (I really, really don't understand people that argue this)
-Very fast 3G
-Great value for your money

Cons:
-3G service is very spotty, outside of major metro areas I'm almost always on Edge, sometimes even in them
-Sub par building penetration

I think the problem with their 3G is they got screwed on the band. They were the last major carrier to get 3G because the band they were alotted was used by the government and just isn't as strong as the bands that ATT, Sprint, Verizon got. At least that's what I remember hearing back when T-Mo started rolling out 3g.

 

[pm]

My favorite T-Mobile story - not really relevant to this thread, but I'm going to tell it anyway - was when I first unlocked my iPhone. It was early Sept. 2007 and Apple just announced a $200 price cut on the iPhone, and there was a software unlock around the corner. So on about the 8th of Sept. I went over to the AT&T store and bought an iPhone 4G took it home and then proceeded to attempt to hack it with about 50-100 people on IRC. Around 4am I managed to jailbreak it - after 4-5 times bricking it and then recovering it - and got the unlock code running (ah, Hayes modem codes to the baseband... those were the fun days of unlocking) and put my T-Mobile SIM in and it worked and I was super happy.

So it's 4am and I have one of the very first iPhones running on T-Mobile and I fire up the web browser on the phone and it doesn't work over EDGE. So I ponder this for a bit and then I call T-Mobile to see if I can find the APN settings for my plan. So I call up and the customer support person asks me what I want and I think that it would be a bad idea that I just hooked up a hacked iPhone to their network and so I say that I have a phone - very vague - that I need the APN settings for. And the CSR person goes, "oh, I see you have an iPhone, let me transfer you to one of our iPhone experts." so I'm a little bewildered at this point because they had just released the hack like... 2 hours ago. There can't be more than a couple of dozen iPhones in the US that are in customer hands that are on T-Mobile's network and they have "iPhone experts"?

So I end up with this guy and he knows all about the iPhone - on T-Mobile in Sept. 2007 - and helps me get the phone up and running and within 30 minutes everything is working. To this day, I'm still amazed that T-Mobile had iPhone experts on call and available at 4am to talk me through setting up my phone when there were no iPhones available on T-Mobile at the time and the unlock had been acheived (with software anyway) only a few hours before.

 

[onza]

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Vibran...230202&sr=8-14

Its free on Amazon right now...

I'm with Tmobile right now, and my only option is to upgrade as an existing customer. 150 bucks!

 

[Pliablemoose]

To this day, I'm still amazed that T-Mobile had iPhone experts on call and available at 4am to talk me through setting up my phone when there were no iPhones available on T-Mobile at the time and the unlock had been acheived (with software anyway) only a few hours before.

LOL, I know, they still have iPhone experts too

I've tethered like a fool, and have done all kinds of stuff with my TMobile service, I'm currently getting 3G for $10/month, not grandfathered, they just activated it a couple of days ago for me.

I bought 2 HDd's for 99 dollars a few months ago, figured I wanted out of contract for the heck of it, they charged me 1 ETF for both phones.

I love TMobile, but hate that the signal doesn't penetrate buildings worth a crap

 

[BigSmooth]

I also love T-Mobile because it's cheap as hell (especially if you work the system a bit), the CS is great, and the coverage is quite good in urban Portland. Yes, the rural coverage is bad and building penetration is sometimes subpar, but all in all if you go in knowing those limitations TMo is great.

 

[kaerflog]

Seem like everyone experience with tmobile data service is spotty.
I guess it a matter of whats important to you.
Data service is at the top of my list.
Im not a constant user but when i do need it, i hate having to wait to get a signal.
Its frustrating as hell.
I like tmobile as a whole but the spotty coverage is making me switch.

 

[Kanalua]

I have been happy with t-mobile. I came from verizon and AT&T before staying with t-mobile for the last 6 years. In Hawaii service really depends on your immediate location. At my old apartment the service wasn't very good. At my new place, great service (voice and data). Downtown honolulu has great service, and fast hspa+, where I work.